Study Skills – Page 2

Writer’s Block

Rachel Horrocks Birss Essays, Lightning Sessions, Study Skills 14th December 2020Academic Skills, Essays, Lightning Sessions, writing 0 Comment

We’ve all been there: staring at a blank screen, unable to write a word. Whether we love writing or we struggle to get our thoughts on paper, Writer’s Block impacts us all. Though it affects us at different times and in different ways, almost all of us will experience Writer’s Block at some point in our academic careers.

When does Writer’s Block tend to strike?

When we’re getting started
When we can’t find the right way to express a difficult idea
When we need to pull everything together

While Writer’s Block is most common at the beginning of an assignment, it can happen at any point. Particularly if we’re stressed, or lack confidence with the material, it’s easy to get stuck.

The good news is that if you’re struggling from Writer’s Block, you’re not alone! Even professional authors often experience Writer’s Block. If you’re struggling, this does not mean you aren’t good enough.

There are also tried-and-true methods of working through Writer’s Block. Watch our Lightning session to learn more, then scroll down to read our Top Tips!

[To skip the intros, jump straight to 1:53]

In the recording, we discuss all kinds of ways to beat Writer’s Block. Here are a few of the most effective:

1. Do the Prep Work

Many times, if we’re struggling with Writer’s Block, it’s because we’ve not done the necessary prep-work. Before we start writing, it’s essential to spend time researching the topic and planning a structure for the essay. Once we know what we’re going to write, actually getting the words down becomes much easier.

[Note: Sometimes people procrastinate on writing by spending endless hours researching and planning. If that’s you, it’s important to just start writing! You can always write a bit, then do more research, then write more, then more research… Academic writing doesn’t have to be a linear process.]

2. Take a Break

If the words just aren’t coming, the best thing you can do is take a break. Get away from the screen, and head outside for a walk. You could even do something fun and creative, like play a musical instrument or bake cookies. You just might find that the best ideas come when you’re doing something else!

3. Just Write!

Writer’s Block is often caused by perfectionism. We think every word needs to be perfect, so we struggle to get anything written. If that’s you, the best thing to do is just write. Challenge yourself to write as many words as you can in five minutes. Or try to write a paragraph as badly as possible. It’s perfectly acceptable– and even beneficial!– to have a messy first draft. Just get the words down, then edit later.

Successful Search Strategies

Rachel Horrocks Birss Essays, Library, Lightning Sessions, Study Skills 26th November 2020Essays, library, literature search, research, sources, writing 0 Comment

When you’re at university, you have to do research. Whatever you study, chances are you’ll spend some time looking through books at the library– or, more likely, browsing the online catalogue searching for sources.

For some of us, research may be exciting: it’s a time to learn more about a new topic, and dive deeper into a subject we love. For others, research may be incredibly confusing, time-consuming, and difficult.

Wherever you fall on this spectrum: you’re not alone. The truth is that even students who love research sometimes find it challenging to find just the right sources for their upcoming assignment.

In this Lightning Session, our colleague from the Library walks us through two of the most common research struggles:

Too Many Sources
Too Few Sources

Watch the video for a full explanation (complete with a screen-sharing demonstration), or keep scrolling for our top tips.

[Note: To skip the intro, jump straight to 05:25.]

Challenge 1: Too Few Sources

Sometimes it’s hard to find enough pertinent sources for our essay. Especially when we’re working on really specific topics, it can be difficult to find sources that directly address our topic.

For instance, if your essay question is: “To what extent is Draco Malfoy the archetypal antihero in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?” then a good first step would be to type the keywords, “Draco Malfoy,” “antihero” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” into the library search.

If you did this, however, you wouldn’t come up with a single result. It’s far too specific. Instead, it’s better to use just a few of the keywords, or to modify them slightly. For instance, you could try “Draco Malfoy” and “Harry Potter” or “antihero” and “Harry Potter.”

If you can’t find enough sources, use fewer keywords or make them more general. Then, be open-minded with the sources you find. Maybe an article on “Heroism in Harry Potter” doesn’t look like exactly what you want, but give it a skim-read anyways. There’s a good chance at least part of the article will be relevant to your topic!

Additionally, once you’ve found one relevant article, make sure to look at its footnotes and bibliography. Chances are, at least some of these sources will be relevant to you, and they might not have immediately come up in the search engine.

Challenge 2: Too Many Sources

Perhaps a bigger problem is too many sources. Especially when we’re assigned quite a broad topic (perhaps, “Is Harry Potter a Hero?”) a library search for our basic keywords can literally return millions of results!

The good news is that the Library search sorts results automatically by relevance, so there’s no need to scroll through every source (though it is worth going through at least a few pages, to make sure nothing important has gotten buried).

If you’ve got too many results, you can use the filters on the right side of the library search to cut your results down to only the most relevant. Helpful filters may include:

Peer Reviewed journals (only journals that have been properly vetted by other academics)
Resource type (books, journals, conference proceedings, etc…)
Subject (Humanities, social sciences, etc…)
Date (select a date range)

Using filters can cut your results down from thousands to hundreds. They can even reduce your results to nothing at all, so it’s good to be careful! Don’t immediately apply certain filters, and it’s always worth experimenting with different combinations of filters, rather than putting them all on at once.

If you’re still struggling with too many sources, it’s worth trying some of the features in the advanced search function, such as limiting your search to article titles, for instance.

We hope these tips are helpful as you start researching your next assignment! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email us at asc@dundee.ac.uk.

Avoiding Procrastination

Rachel Horrocks Birss Lightning Sessions, Study Skills 26th November 2020Academic Skills, challenges, Essays, Procrastination 0 Comment

We’ve all been there. A big deadline is just around the corner, but somehow we find the time to wash dishes, watch Netflix, and scroll through a million Wikipedia pages… all while conveniently avoiding our work.

Procrastination is one of the biggest struggles university students face. We know we need to work consistently throughout the year to keep on top of our coursework, but somehow, we can’t help getting distracted.

The bad news is that procrastination isn’t just a university problem. Once you get your degree and join the workforce, self-motivation becomes even more important. Procrastinating on an important report won’t win you any points with your future boss!

The good news is that there are many tried and true ways to beat procrastination and get your work done on time. Watch our Procrastination recording to hear our Academic Skills Tutors share their thoughts, then scroll down for our top tips.

[Note: To skip the intro, jump straight to 05:40]

In order to beat Procrastination, we have to understand more about it. We’ll do this by quickly looking at the 3 Myths of Procrastination.

Myth 1: I’m the only one.

When we look around, it can often feel like everyone else is working so hard and getting so much done, while we’re the only ones who still haven’t started.

In reality, everyone struggles with procrastination, even people who get lots done. In our Lightning Session on Procrastination, all 18 participants admitted they procrastinate “most days” or “all the time”!

When do we procrastinate? The most common times are:

When we’re anxious
When we think a task will be difficult
When we’re just getting started
When deadlines are a long ways away

If you’re in this situation and you find yourself procrastinating, don’t beat yourself up! Struggling with procrastination in these situations is completely normal.

Myth 2: Procrastinators are lazy and don’t care about their work.

From the outside, procrastination looks a lot like laziness. Rather than working hard, you’re watching funny cat videos and learning tik tok dances. Ironically, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The truth is that procrastinators often care very deeply about their work. They care so much that they’re terrified to get started, because they might not be able to do a good job.

It won’t surprise you that procrastination goes hand in hand with perfectionism. If we think something needs to be perfect, it’s really difficult to get to work. After all, we know that nothing is ever going to be perfect, so why even try? It’s easier to scroll through social media and pretend that everything will be fine.

If you find yourself getting overwhelmed by your work, try these strategies instead:

Take a break (getting outside for a walk is ideal)
Set a timer and work for just 5 minutes. It’ll give you the boost you need to get started!
Try the Pomodoro Technique
Break down your tasks (instead of “write essay” on your to-do list, try “write 100 words of introduction”)

Myth 3: This is just how I am.

Sometimes, we talk about procrastination like it’s something that define us. Instead of saying, “I procrastinate sometimes,” we might say, “I’m a procrastinator.”

Why does this matter? If we see procrastination as part of our identity, then we don’t try to change it. We just get used to working on everything last minute and missing deadlines. We don’t even realise that we can improve.

The wonderful thing is that, if we implement some of the strategies in this blog and in the video, we can get better at handling procrastination. We may never be able defeat it entirely, but we can improve our organisation and focus. If we do this, it’ll make a big difference, both to our assignments at university and our future careers.

We hope these tips help you beat procrastination and focus productively on your next assignment! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email us at asc@dundee.ac.uk.